Federal prosecutors told jurors Tuesday that Hunter Biden’s status as a “drug addict” caused him to lie on federal forms to unlawfully purchase a gun in 2018, promising that witnesses would testify to his insatiable desire to stay high. But attorneys for the son of President Biden said a series of “traumas” led Hunter Biden toward a life consumed by addiction, and that when he bought that gun, he did not think of himself as someone with a drug problem. “You will see that he is not guilty,” attorney Abbe Lowell said, according to The Associated Press .
Hunter Biden’s addiction to cocaine, as he recounted in his 2021 memoir, took a central role in the opening statements of the first criminal trial of a sitting president’s child. He faces three felony counts alleging he made false statements about his use of illicit drugs when obtaining the gun, and then unlawfully possessed it for 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty .
Federal prosecutor Derek Hines said Tuesday that, just days after Hunter Biden checked “no” on a federal gun purchase form questioning whether he unlawfully used or was addicted to marijuana or other narcotics, he was looking to score drugs. The prosecutor called addiction “depressing” but maintained it wasn’t the reason the case against Hunter Biden was brought. “No one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, even Hunter Biden,” Hines said, according to AP.
“He crossed the line when he chose to buy a gun and lied about a fe.